November 14, 2011 4:30pm ESTNovember 14, 2011 2:37pm ESTLong known either as quirky or as an iconoclast, depending upon who’s talking about him, Ed Belfour seems an unlikely choice to enter the button-down world of NHL brass. Don't bet against him.

TORONTO – Among Monday night’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees, Joe Nieuwendyk is now the general manager of the Dallas Stars, Mark Howe is the director of pro scouting for the Detroit Red Wings and Doug Gilmour is the general manager of the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League. The only player being enshrined who has not taken an active role in hockey in his post-playing career is Ed Belfour. At least for now.

“I think I would definitely love the challenge of being a general manager,” Belfour said Monday morning. “I think I would do a great job.”

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Belfour, whose son Dayn is a freshman goaltender at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has done some work as a goalie coach, but did not like the amount of time that the job meant spending away from home and his family. An avid outdoorsman and rebuilder of classic cars, Belfour is happy enough with his involvement in the game primarily being as a recreational player, but should he choose to go back into hockey full-bore, he would prefer an executive track.

Third on the NHL’s all-time wins list with 484, Belfour won the Vezina Trophy twice in his 17-year career. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, a remarkable story of determination for a player whom every team in the league passed up in the draft.

“Eddie can do a lot of things,” said Nieuwendyk, who played with Belfour on the Stanley Cup-winning Stars in 1999, and later the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. “I think a lot of people might think that is a comment thrown out of left field, coming from Eddie, but a lot of people have told Eddie in his life and his career that he wasn’t able to do certain things. It goes back to his North Dakota days (playing collegiately), and he proves them wrong. He loves the game, he’s a smart guy and he can do whatever he wants.”

Belfour certainly would be an interesting addition to the mix of NHL general managers. Long known either as quirky or as an iconoclast, depending upon who’s talking about him, Belfour wore a leather jacket and partially unbuttoned shirt to Saturday night’s ceremonies before the Maple Leafs-Senators game, when the Hall of Fame class was honored. How he would operate in the buttoned-down world of management would be a big question, but Nieuwendyk would not underestimate his former teammate’s potential at the negotiation table.

“I don’t think you could pull the wool over his eyes,” Nieuwendyk said. “That’s for sure.”

Pat Quinn, who was general manager of the Maple Leafs and signed Belfour in 2002, also could see a path for Belfour to join the executive ranks, and noted that as a player, Belfour was a leader by example in his preparation.

“Eddie’s smart, a smart hockey guy,” said Quinn, who is co-chairman the Hall’s selection committee. “He would have to get involved with an organization and see if there were things he could learn about the management side of it. It’s not like putting your skates on. You can understand the game, but there is management that happens. Coaching is different. Coaching is the immediacy, the plan you have to make to help people improve. … If it’s management, maybe he can get on with someone and start to learn the bottom part of it. Nieuwy might be the guy to advise him, because Nieuwy did it for a couple of years, and bang, he sits at the top. That’s the way you start.”